UnFictionalUnbelievably true stories of chance encounters that changed the world. A pair of mail-order shoes that led to the film The Outsiders. A secret road to a California paradise. The day LA and smog first met. Stories that will stick in your head like a memory. It’s UnFictional, hosted by Bob Carlson.

The DocumentThe Document is a new kind of mash-up between documentaries and radio. It goes beyond clips and interviews, mining great stories from the raw footage of documentaries present, past and in-progress. A new episode is available every other Wednesday on iTunes and wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

To the PointA weekly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

We begin today with a look at American Apparel: The L.A.-based clothing company is embroiled in a rift between workers loyal to fired CEO Dov Charney and new management. Also, a tribute to the legendary documentarians the Maysles brothers. Albert Maysles died last night at 88.

FROM THIS EPISODE

We begin today with a look at American Apparel. The L.A.-based clothing company is embroiled in a rift between workers loyal to fired CEO Dov Charney and new management. Then, death rates for white women between the ages of 15 and 54 are on the rise, largely because of an increase in prescription painkiller use. We speak to the author of a new study examining the trend. Next, we check in on a high-profile Silicon Valley trial over a sexual discrimination lawsuit. And in our weekly film segment, a tribute to legendary documentarians the Maysles brothers. Albert Maysles died last night at 88. And finally, we get a primer on the strange and surprising science of tickling.

Today’s Labor Department report on the latest jobs numbers make it clear that the American workforce has changed a lot in the last 50 years. We’re now adding more service-oriented jobs, while manufacturing growth has slowed. But one company here in L.A. that straddles both is American Apparel. Now, its workers are fighting for more rights, stoked partly by ousted CEO Dov Charney. We take a look at the rift between Charney, new management, and the workers caught in the middle.

More white women between the ages of 15 and 54 are dying than they were a generation ago. The main reason is an increase in the use of prescription painkillers. Deaths from suicide and many diseases are also up. At the same time, death rates for Hispanic and African-American women have gone down. What’s behind the numbers? We talk to one of the authors of a new study that looks into the trends.

Guests:Nan Marie Astone, senior fellow at the Urban Institute and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

It’s a tale of two Silicon Valleys. Reddit CEO Ellen Pao’s gender discrimination suit against her former employer, the powerful venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, wraps up its second week in court today. Throughout the proceedings, two distinct visions of the company and the larger tech industry have emerged. Pao claims she was sexually harassed and that discrimination against female employees was routine inside Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner Perkins says Pao simply couldn’t keep up in a hyper-competitive industry. We get up to speed on the trial that’s riveting the tech world.

Legendary filmmaker Albert Maysles died last night at the age of 88. Maysles and his late brother, David, essentially created the verite style of documentary filmmaking: the fly-on-the-wall, non-narrated approach. Their films include the classics Grey Gardens and Gimme Shelter. Today, we kick off our weekly film segment with an appreciation of the Maysles before moving on to the latest box office releases.

One thing we know about tickling: It makes us laugh. But why? And what exactly is it? Is it pain? Pleasure? Aristotle wrote about tickling all the way back in 350 B.C. Darwin did too, in 1872. But, of course, tickling’s been around for as long as big brothers and sisters have needed a way to torture their younger siblings. We get a primer on the strange, ancient science of tickling.